Dr. James' clinical interests include open and minimally-invasive brain aneurysm treatments, aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, arteriovenous malformations (AVM), arteriovenous fistulas, acute stroke, cavernous malformations, carotoid artery stenosis treatments including carotid stenting and open carotid endarterectomy, carotid-cavernous fistula, peripheral nerve entrapment surgery, trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux) microvascular decompression, Adult Chiari syndrome, Moyamoya disease, traumatic brain injury, sports-related concussion, meningiomas, head and neck tumor embolization, and radiosurgery (Gamma Knife and Cyberknife).

Past Experience: Dr. James is board-certified as a diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgery and is a Senior member of the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery. Dr. James is a member of an elite group of neurosurgeons dual-trained in both open cranial neurovascular surgery and minimally-invasive endovascular neurosurgery. Dr. James served as faculty and Instructor of Clinical Neurosurgery with the Department of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. James then joined the faculty at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University as an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and was successful in building the first join cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery program in Eastern North Carolina serving a population of over 1.3 million people.

Dr. James joined the University of Louisville School of Medicine as Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Chief of Vascular Neurosurgery. Dr. James is a nationally known and highly regarded expert in both open cerebrovascular and minimally-invasive endovascular neurosurgery. This dual-training allows Dr. James to offer an unbiased medical opinion in regards to which treatment option is best for his patients.

Dr. James has been invited to speak at numerous national neurosurgery and neuroendovascular meetings in his area of expertise and has published many scientific articles on cerebrovascular disease treatments. He is a committed educator having taught dozens of residents and fellows as faculty at national neuroendovascular practical courses. Dr. James gained recent recognition as the only neurosurgeon invited to write two chapters in the cerebrovascular section of Neurosurgery Knowledge Update, a new book planned for publication by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS).

Cerebrovascular and Stroke Research: Dr. James won the 2012 Robert Simon Chair of Research from the Brain Aneurysm Foundation and the East-West Collaboration Grant Award for his research evaluating heparin in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. He has gained additional grant funding to lead a national, multi-center clinical trail based out of the University of Louisville that will evaluate low-dose heparin administration following cerebral aneurysm rupture. This study is designed to reduce neuroinflammation and prevent memory and cognitive deficits commonly seen in patients who survive a ruptured brain aneurysm. In addition, Dr. James will be bringing the HEAT aneurysm coiling trial to the University of Louisville that will compare gel coated coils to traditional coils in an attempt to understand which type of coil is better at fixing brain aneurysms. Dr. James will also be bringing a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded clinical trial named MISTIE 3 to the University of Louisville that will evaluate new surgical treatments for hemorrhagic stroke, where current treatment options are very limited. Dr. James' interest in clinical research stems from his commitment to find the safest and most effective methods to treat his patients who often have the most complex neurovascular problems. He would like to improve our understanding of these potentially devastating cerebrovascular disorders and to improve outcomes for all patients who suffer from them.

In summer 2018, Dr. James was named to the Louisville Magazine's Top Surgeons List in two categories: Brain Surgery and Carotid Endarterectomy.